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Climate adaptation plans are an effective way to manage a marine ecosystem and support climate change research. However, in developing nations that have to deal with the impacts of climate change, there is little follow-up and no measures on whether these climate adaptation plans are implemented effectively and yield the desired results. This report contains a detailed analysis of a climate adaptation plan implemented in Tabasco, Mexico, that sought to decrease vulnerability to the impacts of climate change. This report consists of a background on the climate adaptation plan in Tabasco and a comprehensive, step-by-step comparison of this plan to the the UNFCCC framework for adaptation. Lastly, this report is complete with two case studies in Tabasco and policy recommendations for improved climate adaptation plans and government involvement in climate policy. The purpose of this report is to determine that despite the completion status of the climate adaptation plan, the goals outlined in this plan were not achieved satisfactorily and did not reduce vulnerability to the impacts of climate change. Mexico has faced challenges in effectively implementing conservation tools, ranging from weak enforcement to poor coordination between national, state, and local authorities. Ultimately, this report outlines the importance of a comprehensive and stakeholder-inclusive approach to climate change policy and planning, especially in the global south.

The evolution of mangroves in response to sea-level rise will partially depend on the availability of accommodation space, which is influenced by the hydrodynamic setting. Here, we reconstruct mangrove evolution in a paleochannel of Sungei Jurong (i.e., Jurong River), Singapore via litho-, bio-, and chrono-stratigraphical analyses. Paleochannels are a commonly-occurring, but under-studied hydrodynamic setting in mangroves. Our results show a stratigraphy of a pre-Holocene basal unit of light grey clayey silt with no recorded microfossils (Unit I), overlain by dark grey clayey silt with 45–58% mangrove pollen (e.g., Rhizophora mucronata, Kandelia candel, and Rhizophora apiculata) and no recorded foraminifera (Unit II). Overlying Unit II is dark brown sandy silt with 44–67% mangrove pollen and no recorded foraminifera (Unit III), separated by a sharp contact from light brown clayey silt (Unit IV) with 39–67% mangrove pollen and agglutinated foraminifera (e.g., Trochammina inflata, Jadammina macrescens, and Haplophragmoides spp.). We develop a Bchron age-depth model from eight radiocarbon dates of plant macrofossils in the form of wood. We infer the presence of a tidal channel near a mangrove environment with a maximum sediment accretion rate of 3.3–5.0 mm yr−1 (~1,230 ± 60 to 990 ± 70 cal. yrs. BP), and an abandoned paleochannel with sediment accretion of up to 18.0–30.0 mm yr−1 (~500 ± 30 cal. yrs. BP to present), separated by a maximum hiatus of 590 cal. yrs. The provision of accommodation space in paleochannels may be driven by rapid sediment accretion caused by overbank flow as well as precipitation and overland flow, thus exemplifying the influence of local hydrodynamics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pacific Island communities are facing rapid changes to their food systems in the context of globalization, environmental degradation and climate change. While in urban areas residents face a rapid nutrition transition, in rural environments, concerns are being raised about how to best maintain traditional food systems that are nutritious and sustainable. Mangrove forests are part of biodiverse food environments that support rural communities in the Pacific, but they are often overlooked in food system research because they occur between sea and land, and because gleaning mollusks and invertebrates from mangroves are considered mere subsistence practices carried out by women. In this paper, we draw from a feminist foodscape approach in feminist political ecology to discuss qualitative fieldwork from mangrove-adjacent communities in the Solomon Islands. We highlight the socio-ecological importance of mangrove foodscapes, along with the gendered and generational aspects of how environmental and food system change are experienced differently by community members in Marovo Lagoon. While conservationists are increasingly interested in the potential of mangroves for carbon sequestration, this research addresses the critical need to engage with mangroves' social, cultural and gendered aspects– towards intertwined goals of gender equity, biodiversity and indigenous food sovereignty in the Pacific. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]